“People try to insult me by saying my success is from a falang (foreigner),” said Nate, smiling as she steered us through the mo-ped-filled traffic, “but it’s just me.”

The story that emerged as Nate (in her taxi-service capacity) drove me from her restaurant to the Phuket bus stop was inspirational. But was also a desperately welcome antidote to the uncomfortable Older-Western-Man-funding-Younger-Thai-Woman situation thick on the island.

“How old do you think zat man is?” Hans hissed at me, pointing to his equally white-haired, equally German chum. “Um, fifty?” I guessed politely. Hans threw his head back and cackled. “NO!” he hollered, “Fritz is seventy-five! And he is living viss a twenty-eight year old Thai girl!”

What else could I do, being the only young, female, American guest here at this party, but smile and [...Read More!]

You are on the southern tip of Phuket, near Nai Han. Mopeds race, bzzz-ing, ’round the twisted hill roads, and light blue waves smash through the rain onto rocky beaches. This is not so much a tourist place as a place to set up a life after middle age with a Thai bride, or perhaps a place to punch others in the face via Muay Thai boxing, or perhaps a place [...Read More!]

I am used to backpacker ghettos filled with $5 hammocks and loud European 20-somethings smoking and flirting and eating crackers to save money. This here is a different beast at this “Phuket Paradise Resort”.

This evening I emerged from my private $14-a-night mansion (from which all these amazing photos are taken! Kitchen not shown because I’m too lazy to cook) to swim swirls under the stars in the glowing lit pool. [...Read More!]